‘The risk is that we’re going to hit the brakes very, very hard,’ Larry Summers says

“‘The risk is that we’re going to hit the brakes very, very hard.’ ” — Larry Summers Almost a full year of monetary-policy tightening by the Federal Reserve appears to be having little impact on price...

7 tax tips for seniors to make the most of your deductions

Tax filing season just opened for 2022 returns, and the IRS is already warning that average refunds may be lower since most pandemic economic relief measures are finished. That means careful tax plann...

‘I am trying to feverishly save for retirement’: My fiancé pays $1,700 a month to the IRS and owes student debt. We’re both 57. Should I marry him for his Social Security and pension?

Dear Quentin, My fiancé and I met at age 42 after being recently divorced. We have (now-grown) children from our previous marriages, but none together. We keep our finances separate. Neither one of us...

Here come the 5% CDs

Don’t touch that dial. If you’re looking for certificates of deposit, the interest rates on offer should be—here’s hoping—heading higher following the latest inflation numbers out Tuesday morning. Rea...

I will leave my daughter my house, but she doesn’t want to take over my $250,000 mortgage. Should she rent the house, or just sell it?

Dear MarketWatch, My daughter has a similar issue that this lady is facing, whose mother left her the family home. I will be leaving my daughter my house in my will. But she has a physical disability ...

Buying bonds now is a smart money move even if the Fed keeps hiking rates. Here’s why.

Bond investors can cheer real interest rates hitting a 15-year high. That’s because bonds historically have performed better in the wake of higher rather than lower real rates. The real interest rate ...

The peak of this market rally is almost here, says JPMorgan. Time to ditch U.S. stocks, and buy these instead, says Wall Street giant.

Roses are red, violets are blue, will CPI turn into the stock market’s Waterloo? The inflation data showed higher prices remain sticky, even if overall pressure eased a bit. The stock market seems to ...

Why January’s CPI report could deal a massive blow to the stock market

The stock market’s start-of-year rally is poised to fizzle if a highly-anticipated U.S. inflation report on Tuesday dashes hopes for a quicker retreat in the cost of living in America, warned market a...

The hunt for stocks with rising dividends: These fund managers have a strategy to keep your payouts growing

The broad stock-market rally so far in 2023 might make it easy to forget what a rough ride investors faced last year. It was a time when some active strategies focused on dividends, good cash-flow tre...

Here are five companies to pick if Goldman Sachs is right about the stock market being flat in 2023

Hearts, flowers and CPI data. Get ready for Tuesday. And hell hath no fury like a disappointed Wall Street. The last time CPI let the markets down — last September — stocks melted down like chocolate....

U.S. stock futures point to cautious open as inflation data looms

U.S. stock futures were barely changed as wariness over inflation and rate rises suppressed risk appetite. How are stock-index futures trading S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.14% rose 2 points, or less t...

Asian markets slide ahead of U.S. inflation update

BEIJING — Asian stock markets sank Monday ahead of a U.S. inflation update that traders worry might lead to more interest rate hikes. The Nikkei 225 NIK, -1.06% in Tokyo sank 1% while the Shanghai Com...

Inflation data rocked the stock market in 2022: Get ready for Tuesday’s CPI reading

Few things moved the U.S. stock market last year like inflation data and the next reading is due this week. Under the spotlight is the January consumer price index, which is set to be released at 8:30...

The IRS Has New Tax Rules for State Payments. What They Could Mean for You.

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday gave the green light to taxpayers in 21 states who had been waiting for the agency to clarify the taxability of certain state payments before filing their federa...

Where and how to charge an electric car for free, and will the IRS give me a tax break on my Super Bowl gambling losses?

Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories. Skip the candy and flowers on Valentine’s Day for this valuable gift that won’t cost you a penny Your time and attention is much more meaningful and b...

IRS says people in most states who got inflation-relief payments don’t have to report it on their taxes. Here’s where.

The IRS is not going to tax payments from most of the states that cut checks to residents last year in order to help them defray rising living costs. This week, the IRS has been trying to determine if...

The Stock Market Is Dropping Again. This Is What’s Happening.

The stock market is losing steam all of a sudden, probably because investors had just gotten too aggressive in their assumptions about a recovery in the economy and profits in 2024.  The market has be...

‘Cash is the cool kid on the block’: High-yield savings accounts, Treasury Bills, money market funds, and CDs — here’s where your cash can earn up to 4.5%

Cash isn’t just the dollar bills you put in your pocket — in this market, it might seem to be a patch of steady ground. There are multiple options: People can put their money in high-yield savings acc...

Bed Bath & Beyond equity offering ‘one of the most unusual financing situations we have witnessed,’ analyst says

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s BBBY, -8.13% unusual equity offering may have averted bankruptcy for the time being, but big challenges remain for the troubled retailer, according to KeyBanc Capital Mark...

‘The short end of the curve is very sexy today’: But where should ETF investors bet on bonds?

Hello! This week’s ETF wrap brings you some of the buzz around fixed income at the recent Exchange conference in Miami, including views from BlackRock, DoubleLine, PIMCO, State Street and Fairlead Str...

Deeply inverted Treasury curve narrowly misses reaching 41-year milestone

A bond-market gauge of impending U.S. recessions fell just shy of reaching its most negative reading since October 1981, when interest rates were 19% under Paul Volcker’s Federal Reserve. That gauge, ...

No wonder Powell didn’t commit to extra hikes. Here are five reasons the January jobs report may be too good to be true.

Traders took heart that Fed Chair Jerome Powell, when he wasn’t being questioned by David Rubinstein on how he gets by on $190,000 per year, didn’t commit on Tuesday to having to be even more aggressi...

Biden targets stock buybacks — do they help you as an investor?

There seem to be two camps when it comes to stock buybacks. On one hand, share buybacks can reduce a company’s share count, which increases profit per share and hopefully supports a rising stock price...

The stock market is a ‘drunken psycho.’ Why this hedge-fund manager is shorting some of the market’s biggest stocks.

Stocks are struggling for traction ahead of a few words from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will make his appearance this afternoon, just days after moonshot jobs data. Our call of the day from the pres...

‘Edge of a swamp’: JPMorgan strategist sees ‘one time only sale’ in fixed income as U.S. economy slows

Fixed-income yields “all look good,” and you might want to get some while you still can, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s David Kelly. It’s a “one time only sale,” said Kelly, chief global stra...

Bed Bath & Beyond Strikes Investor Deal for Over $1 Billion to Avoid Bankruptcy

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has secured investor backing for a more than $1 billion capital raise to stave off bankruptcy and try to turn around its flagging business, people familiar with the matter s...

Market strategist David Rosenberg: U.S. stocks will drop 30%. Wait to buy them.

David Rosenberg, the former chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch, has been saying for almost a year that the Fed means business and investors should take the U.S. central bank’s effort to f...

Goldman Sachs ups its near-term S&P 500 target due to brighter economic picture. But that could knock 25% off stocks, strategists say.

Provided there are no more economic surprises, stocks are unlikely to face a near-term meltdown and the S&P 500 could work its way back to 4,000. That’s according to a team of Goldman Sachs strate...

The next few days may reveal whether investors have been riding one big suckers rally, says this strategist.

Stocks are off to a weaker start as caution grips investors following Friday’s monster jobs beat. While subject to revisions, that 517,000 surge in U.S. jobs may have shredded hopes among some that th...

Property Taxes Are Going Up; Here’s How to Lower Your Bill

Listen to article (1 minute) The cost of homeownership will rise for millions of Americans in coming weeks as new property-tax assessments arrive in the mail.  Property taxes have risen across much of...

6 leading real estate economists and pros on what to expect from the housing market this winter

Getty Images Some aspiring homebuyers are in for some much-needed relief. “Right now might appear more appealing to some buyers because, recently, the housing market has been cooling. Prices are dropp...

Job Numbers Keep Climbing, Sinking Chances of Rate Cuts

What did you know and when did you know it? If one were to pose that Watergate-era question to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, on the issue of whether he gets an advance peak at key economic d...